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Darryl Sutter talks about early-season drama and Las Vegas oddsmakers

The Kings split the first two games of the 2013-14 season, which wasn’t great but certainly not bad considering the distance they traveled to Minnesota and Winnipeg to play on consecutive nights to start the campaign. Kings coach Darryl Sutter fielded a couple of questions Sunday about whether the results of early-season games, good or bad, tend to be overblown by overeager fans, reporters and other outsiders.

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about panic around here,” Sutter said. “I think they (the players) are kind of past that.” Then smiling to indicate he was joking, Sutter said. “Oh, just go to Vegas and change (the Stanley Cup odds). Who hasn’t lost? San Jose? Calgary? Toronto? They’re all the favorites now. … It really has no bearing. Quite honest, the only way to look at is to stay in your next-game focus.”

Sutter added: “Again, it’s not the outcome. It’s more the process. I don’t know if that’s the right way of saying it. But it’s like I told our guys today, I liked the way our team played. I think as individuals, we’ve got to get better. It’s not to criticize or challenge, it’s to reinforce what they’re good at, because they’re that good,” he said. “Maximize your skill-set. That’s what the game is all about. You can’t make big guys little or little guys big or slow guys fast or fast guys slow. Just maximize it game to game.”

Who is behind Inside the Kings blog?

Elliott Teaford is an award-winning hockey reporter based in Southern California and witnessed the L.A. Kings win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and in '14. He grew up playing outdoors on the streets of Philadelphia. He also watched the Flyers bully their way to consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1970s, and makes no excuses for their quasi-legal play.

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